UPDATE: Manafort plans to plead guilty to second set of charges

President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes at a hearing Friday morning, officials said. The planned plea, if accepted by a judge, would short-circuit his second trial scheduled to begin later this month in the District on charges of money laundering and lobbying violations.

The details of Manafort's plea were not immediately clear, including whether he would be providing any information to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III as part of any deal. People familiar with the plea discussions have previously said that Manafort has no intention of cooperating with Mueller, so it's possible any prospective agreement could allow him to admit guilt without providing information to investigators.

A hearing in the case scheduled for Friday morning was pushed back, according to the federal court's electronic filing system.

The move toward a guilty plea is another reversal for Manafort, who has fought vociferously -- but unsuccessfully -- against Mueller's probe. The 69-year-old political consultant was convicted last month in Alexandria federal court on charges of bank and tax fraud.

15. As someone on my Twitter feed said:

Paul Manafort was not a coffee boy.
He was not a low-level aide.
He was not some hanger-on.
He was the CHAIRMAN OF TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN.
... and he just pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States.

Take a moment to consider how profound and unprecedented this is.

Also, Paul Manafort is a deeply shitty human being. No matter how much you hate Paul Manafort, you should hate him more, because he has profited off of war, political unrest, death, and destruction for decades. Shilling for Trump may have been the least objectionable thing he's done in his incredible history of absolute evil. Here's a great precis of why you don't hate Manafort nearly enough: